7
passages portraying their work together: "Stay away from the evil plants, which are not cultivated by
Jesus Christ, because they are not the Father's planting" (Phld. 3:1). The Father is the initial planter
(futeivan) while Christ is portrayed in the subsequent role of "cultivator" (gewrgei'). This type of
relationship is also seen when Ignatius asserted that Christ is an imitator of the Father (Phld. 7:2).
46
Yet
at the same time he did not hesitate to call Christ "God" (qeov"),
47
nor shy away from ascribing to him
terms of worship (Eph. 2:2). However, the Son is clearly distinguished from the Father in his
origination,
48
placing Christ in a subordinate role of mediator. God moves toward humanity through
Christ (Magn. Pro; 8:2; Rom. 8:2), and through Christ humanity approaches God (Eph. 4:2).
The relationship of the Spirit to the Father and Son is not always clear in Ignatius. In the miracle of
the incarnation, the Son is described as originating "from the seed of David and of the Holy Spirit."
49
Ignatius also stated that the church leaders have been "appointed by the mind of Jesus Christ, whom he,
in accordance with his own will, securely established by his Holy Spirit" (Phld. Pro).
50
While Christ
alone establishes the officials, it is the Spirit who then confirms the ordination (ejn bebaiwsuvnh/) by
sealing, empowering or special gifting (cf. 2 Tim 1:6). Though the work itself is the same, the functions
are ordered. The Son's will is primary, while the Spirit's role is secondary.
Though the Spirit is said to originate from the Father, he is described in personal terms: "For even
though certain people wanted to deceive me, humanly speaking, nevertheless the Spirit is not deceived,
because it is from God (ajpoV qeou' o[n); for it knows from where it comes and where it is going, and
exposes the hidden things" (Phld. 7:1).
51
Since the Spirit was never incarnate, his role clarifies the
functional subordination between the persons of the Godhead. One cannot dismiss the submissive role of
the Spirit as a result of an incarnation as some do with the Son. The Spirit is never portrayed in the New
Testament as undergoing a kenosis or voluntary submission. In Ignatius's thinking the Father is the
ultimate authority, the monarchia of the Godhead, and this relationship seems to precede and transcend
the limits of the incarnation. Thus, a model of functional subordination of the Spirit to the Father (and
the Son) at least in the economy of creation would seem to be consistent with Ignatian Trinitarianism.
A final and important consideration from Ignatius is his use of order in the Godhead (specifically
between Father and Son) to justify and strengthen order and unity in the church. The church was to be
united not by some general agreement with principles of doctrine or Spirit-led consensus of the
masses.
52
The unity of the church meant being united to the bishop.
53
Ignatius's view of the Godhead
46
Cf. Smyr. 8:1; Poly. Pro.
47
He is explicitly called qeov" five times: Eph. Pro; 1:1 ("blood of God," ejn ai{mati qeou'); 18:2; Rom. Pro (2x).
48
Eph. 7:2; Magn. 7:2; 8:2.
49
Eph. 18:2--ejk spevrmato" meVn Dauivd pneuvmato" deV aJgivou. Because of the mevn . . . dev construction, the force of the ejk
can be seen as distributed to both spevrmato" and pneuvmato", so the origin of Jesus Christ is both human (from Mary) and divine
(from the Holy Spirit).
50
= ajpodedei gmevnoi" ejn gnwvmh/ *Ihsou' Cristou', ou{" kataV toV i[dion qevlhma ejsthvrixen ejn bebaiwsuvnh/ tw'/ aJgivw/
aujtou' pneuvmati.
51
= ajllaV toV pneu'ma ouj plana'tai, ajpoV qeou' o[n: oi\den gavr povqen e[rcetai kaiV pou' uJpavgei, kaiV taV kruptaV
ejlevhcei.
52
However, Volf reads into the NT--against Ignatius--his egalitarian and communitarian unity by spiritual consensus. Citing
Phld. 8:1 and Magn. 6:1, he writes, "Not until the letters of Ignatius does the preservation of unity become a specific task of the
bishop. Here, the sunevdrion tou' ejpiskovpou
("council of the bishop") corresponds to the ejnovth" qeou' ("unity of God"). The
bishop is thereby in a position to preside within the church eij" tovpon qeou' ("in the place of God") and thus to ensure its unity. The
New Testament itself does not yet attest this understanding. There, the unity of the church seems especially to come about through
the indwelling of the one Spirit (and with it of the entire holy triunity) in every person. Accordingly, and in analogy to the Trinity,
every person as a bearer of the Spirit participates in the constitution of unity" (Miroslav Volf, After Our Likeness: The Church as
the Image of the Trinity, ed. Alan G. Padgett, Sacra Doctrina: Christian Theology for a Postmodern Age [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1998], 219). However, Volf does not point out that Spirit-filled unity is in fact expressed in Paul's writings through submission to
the established order (Eph 4:1116; 5:186:9). Ignatius thus appears to be more in line with Pauline thought than Volf.
53
Moltmann's portrayal of Ignatius is exaggerated. Coming from an egalitarian perspective, Moltmann reads Ignatius in the
following way: "It was at that time that Ignatius of Antioch formulated the principle of the episcopate which has remained valid in
many churches until the present day: one bishop one church. He founded this Episcopal unity of the church by means of the
following theological hierarchy: one God one Christ one bishop one church. The bishop represents Christ to his church just as
Christ represents God" (Moltmann, Trinity and the Kingdom, 200). However, Moltmann overlooks the call to submission to the
entire Presbytery, and also the dynamic ways in which church structure is associated with divine and heavenly order.